Back in high school I had to borrow my neighbors car to run a few errands.Â As I picked up the car I asked him, â€œIs there anything I need to know?â€ He replied, â€œKeep your eye on the flow of traffic because the speedometer is broken.â€Â Being a new driver I didnâ€™t realize how big of a deal this was until I was heading down the road passing what felt like a million cops with no clue whether or not I was speeding.

It doesnâ€™t take a genius to realize that you need every gauge on your carâ€™s dashboard to head down the road safely.Â Without it you donâ€™t know how far and fast you are going.Â You need it to track the health of the cars and when you need a tune up.

In youth ministry you need a dashboard for similar reasons, because you need to know:

What Are You Tracking?

This might be a question that makes you nervous because it brings up the numbers game; however, itâ€™s more than that.Â Knowing what you are tracking means you are keeping track of the health of your ministry.Â Therefore, you need to be tracking:

Who Is Coming: Attendance is more than just a blank number, it can help us determine if we are tracking more boys than girls or more churched than unchurched.Â Tracking attendance isnâ€™t just counting bodies; it allows you to understand how you are growing.Â Knowing who is coming will also shape the identity of your ministry.

Spiritual Deepening: Itâ€™s very difficult to judge a manâ€™s heart (unless you are God); however, by tracking spiritual deepening you are looking at the ratios of teens that are showing up versus how many are going deeper.Â Knowing the ratios means knowing that teens might struggle to plug into a ministry versus a small group.Â This helps you understand the path youâ€™ve laid out for them in your ministry.

Why Teens Are Coming: Tracking this question may lead to answers as simple as, â€œMy friend brought me.â€ Or â€œMy mom made me.â€ however, it will also show you your influence and impact in the community.Â Do people know about you?Â How are they learning about you?Â Are you more present in certain schools, clubs or teams? Know this and you can make your impact greater.

Adult Influence: Tracking ministers might not be a difficult task because you work at a small church or there arenâ€™t a lot of adults serving in the student ministry.Â However, if you donâ€™t track who is serving, how long they are staying, why they are leaving and how they got into ministry then you are never going to learn how to grow the number of men and women serving in your ministry.

Budget: If you want to protect or increase your budget you need to know where the money is going and even where itâ€™s coming from.Â Finances are definitely not the most appealing area of student ministry; however, itâ€™s important.Â Without God honoring stewardship itâ€™s going to be hard to fund the movement you are trying to lead.

Whether you use certain software or a basic spreadsheet you need to be tracking the progress, growth and movement of your ministry.Â With no dashboard you are essentially putting your ministry at risk of crashing and spinning out of control.Â Talk to your leaders and take the time to answer the question, â€œWhat should I be tracking?â€

What other aspects of ministry should we be tracking?

Chris Wesley is the Director of Student Ministry at Church of the Nativity in Timonium, MD. You can read more about his blog Marathon Youth Ministry.